11 Iraqi police recruits killed in attack

A provincial official and a police officer say police found the 11 bodies and their bullet-ridden minibus Monday evening in a deserted area near the rural town of Baaj. The town is 80 miles west of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.

The assault comes as U.S.-backed Iraqi security forces are carrying out a major crackdown in Mosul and nearby areas to root out al-Qaida in Iraq militants.

Meanwhile, Iraqi officials said police on Monday arrested a man suspected of being a top al-Qaida in Iraq figure in the northern city of Mosul, where security forces have been carrying out an intensified crackdown to root out the terror network.

The U.S. military said it was looking into the report. Reports of high-level al-Qaida arrests in the past have sometimes proven incorrect.